The Thrill
is an one-shot comic issue that serves as a cross-over between the Season Eight and Tales meta-series. It was written by Becky Cloonan and illustrated by Vasilis Lolos. Synopsis In a small town in Massachusetts, a young man named Jacob goes about his day as usual — wakes early, eats breakfast with his mom, and heads to school. He’s a hard worker and a reliable friend to Alexia, an athletic and headstrong young woman. But at night Jacob likes to cut loose at the local arcade, where he’s befriended a reckless gang of vampires who enjoy drinking his blood. Jacob craves the high and the easy escape from the monotony of his life that this "bloodletting" provides. Enter the mysterious and sultry May, who can help Jacob leave those high-school days behind — that is, if Alexia doesn’t stop her first."Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Vampires (Jo Chen cover)". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved December 20, 2017. Summary Following the acceptance of vampires in mainstream society, the world has changed. On a Tuesday night in a small town called Nashua, New Hampshire. Jacob is spending another night endlessly playing video games at the local arcade, he tells us of how he had a bad day at school and how living in this town is nothing but the same old repetitive numbness that keeps consuming him day by day. He exits the arcade and is approached by a sultry blonde girl named May, a college student, who is drawn to Jacob and they spark up a conversation. Soon, Jacob’s best friend, Alexia arrives and tries to talk to Jacob, but Jacob leaves. As he walks, he comes upon a car and knocks on the window, the driver is a vampire named Sebastian who feeds on Jacob, who in turn gets off on the high of the bloodletting. Sebastian is ready to turn him away, as he is already full from feeding earlier. Jacob pleads, and Sebastian takes him into the car to a couple of his other friends, who were more than willing to feed on him. Jacob returns home to his frantic mother who assumes Jacob was out smoking marijuana, to which Jacob denies before going to bed. Still high from his visit with the vampires, Jacob begins to have a sexual hallucination about a vampiric Alexia. The next day at school, Jacob and Alexia talk about making plans to see each other. That same night, after spending another evening at the arcade, Jacob is approached by three vampires: Sebastian and his two friends, all who are in the mood to feed. Jacob tells them no, to which they respond to by beating him severely. The next thing we see is another hallucination, only this time, Jacob is bloody and it is May who is with him, not Alexia. He wakes up in May’s dorm room, where it is revealed that she had found him near death outside the arcade a few nights before and decided to sire him, so he waits out the sun while May gives him the rules about being a vampire. That night, May and Jacob go to the arcade, where Jacob feeds for the first time. Later, a frantic Alexia finds Jacob and asks him where he has been for the past few days, and he tells her about the attack; Alexia crazily tries to get him to see that vampires are not as cool as everyone thinks they are. As they walk, Sebastian congratulates Jacob on becoming a vampire; he takes him to his mom’s house, where his mother, after hearing about what had happened to Jacob, accepts it and helps him move to the basement, where he contemplates how his life has changed. That night, Jacob’s mother warns him about vampires being killed around town and that, even though he is now a vampire; she still loves him and wants him to be cautious at night. At the arcade, Alexia presses Jacob about his strange behavior and soon they are approached by May, and upon realizing that May is a vampire, the two fight and Alexia stakes May, which angers Jacob and reveals her status as a Slayer to both Jacob and the crowd of onlookers from the arcade; one of them curses Alexia for killing May. Jacob finally reveals he is a vampire, and while professing that vampires don’t hurt people like Slayers believe they do, he wonders if Alexia will slay him too. She replies that she only wanted a normal life, and never actually wanted to be a Slayer in the first place. So, in anger, Jacob bites Alexia and as she nears death, he gives her the choice: dying or becoming a vampire like him. Continuity *With the popular awareness of slayers and vampires, the story is set after Harmony Kendall’s reveal of supernatural in issue Harmonic Divergence. *As the vampire siring did not transform humans into zompires, it also takes places before the end of magic in Last Gleaming, Part Four. Appearances Individuals *Alexia *Jacob *May *Sebastian Organizations and Titles *Slayer Species *Human *Vampire Locations *Nashua, New Hampshire Weapons and Objects *Stake Death Count *Jacob, drained and sired by May. *Unidentified girl, drained by Jacob. *May, dusted by Alexia. *Alexia, drained by Jacob. Behind the Scenes Collections *"Tales" Gallery Cover Artwork The Thrill.jpg|Jo Chen main cover totvb.jpg|Gabriel Bá & Fábio Moon variant Preview Image:TTP1.jpg Image:TTP2.jpg nl:The Thrill Category:Season Eight Category:Tales